OK, I'll admit to being a total ignoramus when it comes to this computer stuff, so if you have ideas to help me, use nice, simple words, maybe at a 10-year-old level.

I've been struggling with ways to get schematics up on the BB and turned to AutoCad. I can draw stuff in AutoCad and make it more or less plot OK. However, when I export a drawing to .bmp format, the .bmp file shows a reasonable size (a couple hundred kbyte) but when I open the .bmp with another program like Paint or Fireworks, it displays blank. What am I doing wrong?

SY: This may not be a direct solution, but another way is to expand your AutoCad drawing on the screen as large as possible, then do a PrintScreen. Now open the Paint application, and do a Paste. Trim the edges (I use Cut - NewFile - Paste), and you should have a presentable BMP of your drawing. The filesize of the bmp will be large, but zipping it will bring the size way down, and you should be able to post the zip to DiyAudio with no problem. Use a graphics file format conversion application if you want a GIF.

Also, I suggest that you consider something like SIMetrix for drawing your schematics.

Originally posted by jcarr
but another way is to expand your AutoCad drawing on the screen as large as possible, then do a PrintScreen. Now open the Paint application, and do a Paste. Trim the edges (I use Cut - NewFile - Paste), and you should have a presentable BMP of your drawing. The filesize of the bmp will be large, but zipping it will bring the size way down, and you should be able to post the zip to DiyAudio with no problem. Use a graphics file format conversion application if you want a GIF.

This is essentially the technique i use for getting my drawings onto the web. Set the screen image to correspond to the right size, take a snap-shot (OS Xs postscript display does a great job), then open in Photoshop (you could just as easily use GraphicConverter or PhotoShop Elements* or any number of other raster editors) to crop it and save it out as the smallest possible gif.

For AutoCad drawings, i import them into VectorWorks and clean them up 1st)

*(if anyone is looking for a good raster editor this has to be the best value in raster editor for either Mac or PC)

OK, I know I'm gonna sound REALLY stupid, but I assume that to do a PrintScreen means to hit the PrintScreen key? If so, when I did that, exactly nothing happened. I hope I'm not like the driving student who, when instructed to parallel park, put the automatic transmission in "Park," then complained because the car wasn't parking.

Selecting before exporting worked OK, though there was a major resolution loss going to a bmp. The gif looked identical (Fireworks exports like a sane program should, the whole image), and was delightfully compact (like 5K or something). My first attempt is over at the "math" thread. It looks a little fuzzy compared to the original AutoCad image for sure.

Originally posted by SY I'm grateful to all the geeks bearing gifts. AutoCad is monstrously powerful (Drafting Dan, for other Heinlein fans) but user-hostile.

i've stopped being surprised at the places i find heinlein fans.

by the way...another option for turning an autocad drawing into an image file is to 'plot to file' using the eps format. then convert the eps into whatever format you like, using your favorite image software. i believe this way you can preserve line weights, if you have them defined that is.

you could also use 'psout', or 'export' using eps format...but i'm not sure if it lets you 'window' the area you want to export.
in that case you'd have to crop the image when you go to convert it to bmp/gif/jpg.